December 17, 2012

ADDED: Interesting that the lyric is "life and time," not "life and times." The stock phrase is "life and times." You see it in many subtitles — "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla,""Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" — and titles — "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid." "Times" refers to the era in which the character lives, so "life and times" is a reference to 2 related things — the person and the setting where we find him. But "time" without the "s" seems to refer to the period of time that is the character's life. Think of how we say things like: Your time is almost used up or My time here on earth. "Life and time," then, is a redundancy, 2 references to the character's own life, and none to the era. When I listen to the Leon Russell original, I feel that I can hear an implied "s" on "time" (and a similar effect on the word "rhyme" in the rhyming line: "I've sung a lot of songs, I've made some bad rhyme"), but then I listen again and it's not there at all. I check Karen Carpenter's ultra-clear articulation: It's "life and time" and "some bad rhyme." It's odd when you contemplate the meaning of language, but when you think about the sound, closing down those lines on the hum of "m" is so much nicer than hissing into an "s."

It was quite a thrill to hear and see Russell in a little tent that the town had erected for the event.

At the end of his second set, he announced, in his southern drawl...

"Now, I know I'm supposed to get up and go away, and you're gonna call me back for an encore. But, I'm an old man and it's too hard for me to do any more. So, let's just pretend I did got up and came back, and I'll sing you one more song."

"Jesus - when I first looked at that I thought he had died! Thank goodness!"

I'm sorry! I didn't think of it that way. It was just something that came up around here. I happened to utter a sentence that was very close to "I've been so many places in my life and time" (actually it was: I've done so many bad things in my life) and that got Meade singing the song and then playing those 2 recordings.

For a few days before, my FB page had been filled with musicians howling at each other about all the usual gun control crap.

One of my old friends called a halt and said, basically... "What in the hell are we doing? Music is where we find peace from this shit."

Seemed to calm everybody down. Lots of folks wanted to come on down to the gig and sit in, so we made a place for them all to play a song or two. Plenty of names you'd recognize, but I'll skip the name dropping.

People just had fun and forget everything for a while. Saw and played with friends I haven't seen in decades. Politics just aren't that important. Too many friends gone. Too many friends I might never see again. Why part company in anger?

caught leon here in oakland last month. he was in great voice and his skills on the piano haven't lessened. his 'a song for you' brought the house to tears and cheers. i'm so glad that he's being recognized again. the man has one of the most illustrious and varied careers in music. it's hard to think of any artist of the last five decades with whom he hasn't worked. look it up, you'll be amazed.he did use the same "pretend i got up and came back" line...but it's a good one and it's true that he's no spring chicken so why not stay put for the 'encore'? i would have been happy if he had stayed put for another couple of hours of entertaining us with his music.

@Palladian I completely agree. Karen Carpenter had one of the greatest voices ever. Her brother Richard's arrangements were often sappy, but when she covered these melancholy songs ("A Song for You", "Superstar", "Desperado", "This Masquerade") there was no one better. Sorry, Leon Russell fans, but it's true. I also think her cover of "Ticket to Ride" was better than the Beatles' version. I have a running argument with my older brother about which untimely death was the greater loss to music -- Karen Carpenter's or John Lenon's. He of course thinks I'm blasphemous ...

Always have a special place in my heart for the Carpenter version. Great sax solo in that song. In fact, the album "A Song For You" was their best IMHO. The Wrecking Crew in LA were the backing musicians on a lot of the Carpenters stuff.

Thanks, Ann. I'm sitting here listening to Karen Carpenter songs on GrooveShark on my iPad. My wife just came in and looked at me like I'm crazy. My life may be in 2012, but at the moment my time is in 1976...

I'd like to see the NYT rebranded as the "The New York Time". Its viewpoint is so singularly leftist..so exclusively urban...such a shortsighted and Eastern clamor that it hardly deserves a masthead proclaiming a plurality of viewpoints.

And when I think about the sound, The New York Time closing down on the hum of "m" is so much nicer than hissing-fits which currently end on an "s."

Kent Hartmans book, The Wrecking Crew, is a good read on the LA studio musicians of the 60's. Leon was a part of this group (for instance he played on The Byrds' Tambourine Man) and makes a few appearances in the the book. And the Carpenters' connection is that they used Wreckng Crew musicians on their studio recordings. (Karen was a good drummer, but Hal Blaine was about the best there was.)

I was kind of surprised to see that it was a different song than the "A Song For You" that I knew, the one by Gram Parsons, which was also covered by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs on one of the bonus tracks for Under The Covers, Vol. 2.

I've never been keen on Leon Russell himelf--or any of that croaky, blues-inflected singer-songwriter rock much, for that matter, (Russell, Springsteen, Dylan, and their like)--but I do likes me some Carpenters!

I hated them in their heydey as they offended my elitist teen-age sensibilities--but then, so did Led Zeppelin, who seemed to me de classe, their fan base stoned losers and their music oppressively omnipresent and heavy, man--but as I grew out of my immaturity and could listen to the Carpenters absent my teen condescension, their expert pop and Karen's beautiful voice delighted me.

(I also came to appreciate Led Zeppelin years later; absent their original context and their caricatured image, ["Does anyone remember laughter?" *shudder*], their music could be heard afresh, and, as the Lord sayeth, it was good.)

Was fortunate to see Leon Russell in 1973, I was young and not that familiar with his work. Going to concerts was what you did, but it left me with a great appreciation of his music. Back to the Island has always been my favorite.

(Karen was a good drummer, but Hal Blaine was about the best there was.)

That's kind of comparing apple to caramel coated apples. Blaine was indeed an elite, in a class that includes the like of Colaiuta, Gadd, Keltner, Prcaro.... Sure, she wasn't in that league, but then, so few are. Don't let that distract from the fact that Carpenter was a fine drummer in her own right.

I hated the Carpenters at the time, but ever since Karen died... that changed the feeling of all that maddening chirpiness. It got sad. Also, I'm impressed by the power of the really low notes... which come on "time" and "rhyme."

Singers are taught from pretty much the first day of kindergarten choir to suppress or eliminate the 's' sound, especially at the ends of words. The reason? It guickly sounds like an Indiana Jones nightmare.